


On anger

by SkyEventide



Series: In memory of a Jewelwright [1]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-14 17:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2200362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyEventide/pseuds/SkyEventide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short character study on Fëanor's anger with a personal final comment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On anger

**Author's Note:**

> Fëanáro is Quenya for his name.

 I. In memory of a Jewelwright

**On anger**

 

As a child, he was often angry at his father, but he would not say it out loud, he would never dare. He was angry at Indis too, naturally, but it was a different kind of grudge. —Of her, he was envious too, for she held his father’s happiness in her smile, and true wrath, and grief, grew in his stomach at the idea that such happiness should have been in the hands of his own mother. But her, she had chosen death.

His father… That anger was different, and Fëanáro asked silently, grabbing the cloth of his sleeves and twisting it in his hands, how could he do that to his first wife, to his own mother, and to him. But then he also remembered: had he been enough as his only child, that would not have happened, there would not have been another queen. Thus anger remained within him, finding its source and its aim in himself, and rotten as it was, it became a long-lasting bitterness.

Toward his mother, it was only partially different. Her tapestries were valued more than a kingdom and she was valued more than truth itself by him — he could not aim anything at her, not his anger, not his resentment for having chosen the deep rest of death to everything else. He did not care that she did not love the blessing of Valinor: fault was in the fallible harmony of Aman, not in her. Fault was in him for having been too weak an anchor. He met with wrath every suggestion that he himself had been her killer (and such an opinion had been popular in his early youth), yet in truth sometimes he believed that himself.

Rage had been apt to his character and to his name, for it burned, blazed, survived under the ashes always ready to rise yet again. People who truly knew him (there were very few of them, and most of them were of his kin) would have laughed at the suggestion that there was nothing but anger in him — it was far from true. Even him, at times, acknowledged it. There was more to him than rage and hatred. Still, in a brief and passing moment before battle, Fëanáro wondered if in the distant ages yet to come, someone would have ever bothered to remember that.

Wind brought him smell of metal and coal, he drew his sword once again, and did not care anymore. Something would have remained, regardless.

**Author's Note:**

> On the idea that Fëanor was unusually violent and/or wrathful in the company of his family and in his private life:
> 
> There are very few explicit quotations that can prove that one way or the other, although there are some that imply his behaviours toward people actually changed in time (becoming more riotous), and by people I mean specifically those who are not usually involved in his personal life (the death threat toward Ñolofinwë cannot be called merely “personal life” due to how much it’s tied in with the political situation.) 
> 
> Anyway, on a personal level? I strongly disagree with that idea and I believe it is a misconception, and one that makes a huge disservice to his character.
> 
> The reason is, with a nuanced character such as Fëanor I believe it’s kind of ridiculous to limit his passion (fire of his heart and such) to mere violence. Such a generalisation means ignoring all the other emotions that, as a living being, he naturally felt his creative drive, or ignoring his character arc, ignoring all the tangible issues that arose especially from the moment of Melkor’s release. I believe that shoving aggressiveness or violence in his daily life, aimed toward people he trusted, people of his family, is an oversimplification of his personality, one that ignores nuances that should be added to every character. Plus, it’s also related to considering inherently violent people who are also called “mad” and such. I believe he was fierce and passionate, but those are not necessarily things that should be read in a negative way, especially when it comes to people he loved. I cannot prevent people from thinking that he was always angry and/or easily angered when in his family's company, but that’s not a character interpretation that I enjoy. I think that, ultimately, it flattens him.


End file.
